Magna Graecia

Magna Graecia was the name given by the Romans to the Greek-speaking coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; these regions were extensively populated by Greek settlers. These settlers, who began arriving in the 8th century BC, brought with them their Hellenic civilization, which left a lasting imprint on Italy (such as in the culture of ancient Rome). They also influenced the native peoples, such as the Sicels and the Oenotrians, who became hellenised after they adopted the Greek culture as their own. The Greek colonists of Magna Graecia developed a civilisation of the highest level, which had peculiar characteristics, due to the distance from the motherland and the influence of the indigenous peoples of southern Italy.
The type of government was in the form of city-states (poleis) administered by the aristocracy. The Second Punic War put the end to the independence of the cities of Magna Graecia, which were annexed to the Roman Republic in 205 BC.
The Greek expression , later translated into Latin as , first appears in Polybius' Histories, (written around 150 BC) where he ascribed the term to Pythagoras and his philosophical school. Strabo also used the term to refer to the size of the territory that had been conquered by the Greeks, and the Roman poet Ovid used the term in his poem Fasti. Some of these Greek colonies in Italy still stand today such as Neapolis ("New City", now Naples), Syrakousai (Syracuse), Akragas (Agrigento), Taras (Taranto), Rhegion (Reggio Calabria), or Kroton (Crotone). The most populous city of Magna Graecia was Sybaris (now Sibari), with an estimated population, from 600 BC to 510 BC, between 300,000 and 500,000 inhabitants. The cities of Magna Graecia were often at war with each other. Magna Graecia, in some fields such as architecture and urban planning, sometimes surpassed the mother country and the other Greek colonies. The names of the inhabitants of Magna Graecia are Italiotes and Siceliotes.
From the motherland Greece, art, literature and philosophy decisively influenced the life of the colonies. In Magna Graecia much impetus was given to culture, especially in some cities, such as Taras (now Taranto). Noteworthy was the South Italian ancient Greek pottery, fabricated in Magna Graecia largely during the 4th century BC. The settlers of Magna Graecia had great successes in the Ancient Olympic Games in their homeland. Crotone's athletes won 18 titles in 25 Olympics. Although many of the Greek inhabitants of Magna Graecia were entirely Latinized during the Middle Ages, pockets of Greek culture and language remained and have survived to the present day. One example is the Griko people in Calabria (Bovesia) and Salento (Grecìa Salentina), some of whom still maintain their Greek language (Griko language) and customs. The Griko language is the last living trace of the Greek elements that once formed Magna Graecia.
Terminology
The original Greek expression Megálē Hellás is attested for the first time relatively late, in the 3rd century BC by Timaeus of Tauromenium and then in the 2nd century BC in a passage by the Greek historian Polybius, it is believed that the genesis of the underlying concept took place in the 5th century BC, which marks the apogee of the history of the region, in relation to political, economic, cultural and artistic achievements in that period. There are various hypotheses on the origin of the name Megálē Hellás.
The term could be explained by the prosperity and cultural and economic splendour of the region at the time of the Pythagoreans (6th-5th century BC). In any case it was created by the Pythagorean Achaeans to refer to the network of colonies founded or controlled by the Achaeans themselves between the end of the 6th and mid-5th centuries under the rule of the city of Kroton, which destroyed Ionian Siris and then Sybaris in 510 BC to create an even greater 'empire' which ethnically embraced a large part of continental Southern Italy up to Poseidonia (excluding Reggio Calabria to the south and Taranto to the north).
Context
During the Archaic period, the Greek population grew beyond the capacity of the limited arable land of Greece proper, resulting in the large-scale establishment of colonies elsewhere: according to one estimate, the population of the widening area of Greek settlement increased roughly tenfold from 800 BC to 400 BC, from 800,000 to as many as -10 million. This was not simply for trade, but also to found settlements. These Greek colonies were not, as Roman colonies were, dependent on their mother-city, but were independent city-states in their own right.
A reason for Greeks to establish colonies was the strong economic growth with the consequent overpopulation of the motherland. The terrain that some of these Greek city states were in could not support a large city. Politics were also reason as refugees from Greek city states tended to settle away from these cities in the colonies.
Greeks settled outside of Greece in two distinct ways. The first was in permanent settlements founded by Greeks, which formed as independent poleis. The second form was in what historians refer to as emporia; trading posts which were occupied by both Greeks and non-Greeks and which were primarily concerned with the manufacture and sale of goods. Examples of this latter type of settlement are found at Al Mina in the east and Pithekoussai in the west.
From about 750 BC the Greeks began 250 years of expansion, settling colonies in all directions. To the east, the Aegean coast of Asia Minor was colonized first, followed by Cyprus and the coasts of Thrace, the Sea of Marmara and south coast of the Black Sea.
Eventually, Greek colonization reached as far northeast as present-day Ukraine and Russia (Taganrog). To the west the coasts of Illyria, mainland Italy and Sicily (the so-called "Magna Graecia") were settled, followed by Southern France, Corsica, and even eastern Spain. Greek colonies were also founded in Egypt and Libya.
Modern Syracuse, Naples, Marseille and Istanbul had their beginnings as the Greek colonies Syracusae (Συράκουσαι), Neapolis (Νεάπολις), Massalia (Μασσαλία) and Byzantion (Βυζάντιον). These colonies played an important role in the spread of Greek influence throughout Europe and also aided in the establishment of long-distance trading networks between the Greek city-states, boosting the economy of ancient Greece.
Antiquity
History
According to Strabo's Geographica, the colonization of Magna Graecia had already begun by the time of the Trojan War and lasted for several centuries. In the 8th and 7th century BC, due to demographic crises (famine, overcrowding, etc.), stasis, a developing need for new commercial outlets and ports, and expulsion from their homeland after wars, Greeks began to settle in southern Italy. These people established the colony of Pithecusae on the current island of Ischia, considered the oldest Greek settlement in Italy, then arrived on the Italian coasts and founded various cities such as Cumae, considered the first ancient Greek colony on the mainland of Italy, and Metapontion, then Taras (now Taranto) and Rhegium (now Reggio Calabria). At an unknown date between the 8th and 6th centuries BC the Athenians, of Ionian lineage, founded Scylletium (near today's Catanzaro).
Colonies began to be established all over the Mediterranean and Black Seas (with the exception of Northwestern Africa, in the sphere of influence of Carthage), including in Sicily and the southern part of the Italian Peninsula. The Romans called this area Magna Graecia (Latin for 'Greater Greece') since it was so densely inhabited by the Greeks. Ancient geographers differed on whether the term included Sicily or merely Apulia, Campania and Calabria, Strabo and Livy being the most prominent advocates of the wider definitions. Over time the new cities, for political, overpopulation, commercial and territorial control reasons, expanded their presence in Italy by founding other Greek cities, effectively expanding the Greek civilization to the whole territory today called Magna Graecia.
Remains of some of these Greek colonies can be seen today such as those of Neapolis ('new city', now Naples), Syracusae (Syracuse), Akragas (Agrigento), Taras (Taranto), Rhegion (Reggio Calabria), or Croton (Crotone). The type of government was in the form of "city-states" (poleis) administered by the aristocracy. The most populous city of Magna Graecia was Sybaris (now Sibari), with an estimated population, from 600 BC to 510 BC, between 300,000 and 500,000 inhabitants. The cities of Magna Graecia were often at war with each other. The names of the inhabitants of Magna Graecia are Italiotes and Siceliotes.
An intense colonization program was undertaken by Syracuse, at the time of the tyranny of Dionysius I of Syracuse, around 387–385 BC. This phenomenon affected the entire Adriatic coast, and in particular led to the foundation in Italy of Ancon (now Ancona) and Adria; in the Dalmatian coast he saw the foundation of Issa (current Vis), Pharus (Stari Grad), Dimus (Hvar); Lissus (now Lezhë) was founded on the Albanian coast. Issa in turn then founded Tragurium (now Trogir), Corcyra Melaina (now Korčula) and Epetium (now Stobreč, a suburb of Split).
The inhabitants of Rhegium (now Reggio Calabria) founded Pyxus (Policastro Bussentino) in Lucania; the inhabitants of Locri founded Medma (Rosarno), Polyxena (Polistena) and Hipponium (Vibo Valentia) in present-day Calabria; the inhabitants of Sybaris (now Sibari) revitalized the indigenous centers of Laüs and Scydrus in Calabria and founded Poseidonia (Paestum), in Campania; the inhabitants of Croton (now Crotone) founded Terina and participated in the foundation of Caulonia (near Monasterace marina) in Calabria; the inhabitants of Messana (now Messina; according to sources in collaboration with Rhegium) founded Metaurus (Gioia Tauro) in Calabria around the 7th century BC, the inhabitants of Taras together with the Thurii founded Heracleia (Policoro) in Lucania in 434 BC. The inhabitants of Taras also founded Callipolis ('beautiful city', now Gallipoli), whose previous name was Anxa (a Messapian settlement located near the current territory of Alezio).
With colonization, Greek culture was exported to Italy in its dialects of the Ancient Greek language, its religious rites and its traditions of the independent polis. An original Hellenic civilization soon developed and later interacted with the native Italic civilisations. The most important cultural transplant was the Chalcidean/Cumaean variety of the Greek alphabet, which was adopted by the Etruscans; the Old Italic alphabet subsequently evolved into the Latin alphabet, which became the most widely used alphabet in the world.
The first Greek city to be absorbed into the Roman Republic was Neàpolis in 327 BC. The other Greek cities in Italy followed during the Samnite Wars and the Pyrrhic War; Taras was the last to fall in 272. Sicily was conquered by Rome during the First Punic War. Only Syracuse remained independent until 212 because its king Hiero II was a devoted ally of the Romans. His grandson Hieronymus however made an alliance with Hannibal, which prompted the Romans to besiege the city, which fell in 212 despite the machines of Archimedes, described by Proclus in his commentary on Euclid's Elements. Archimedes constructed weapons powered by compressed air, weights and counterweights, according to Ctesibius and Hero. The Second Punic War put the end to the independence of all the cities of Magna Graecia, which were annexed to the Roman Republic in 205 BC.
List of Greek poleis in mainland Italy
This is a list of the 22 poleis ("city-states") in Italy, according to Mogens Herman Hansen. It does not list all the Hellenic settlements, only those organised around a polis structure.
List of Greek poleis in Sicily
This is a list of the 46 poleis ("city-states") in Sicily, according to Mogens Herman Hansen. It does not list all the Hellenic settlements, only those organised around a polis structure.
List of Greek poleis in Italy not belonging to Magna Graecia
Administrative organization
The administrative organization of Magna Graecia was inherited from the Hellenic poleis, taking up the concept of "city-states" administered by the aristocracy. The cities of Magna Graecia were independent like the Greek poleis of the motherland, and had an army and a military fleet. There were also cases of tyranny as in Syracuse, governed by the tyrant Dionysius, who fought the Carthaginians until his death.
Economy
In the cities of Magna Graecia, trade, agriculture and crafts developed. Initially oriented to the indigenous Italic populations, the trade was immediately an excellent channel of exchange with the Greeks of the motherland, even if today it is difficult to establish precisely the type of goods traded and the volume of these exchanges.
Coinage
Greek coinage of Italy and Sicily originated from local Italiotes and Siceliotes who formed numerous city-states. These Hellenistic communities descended from Greek migrants. Southern Italy was so thoroughly hellenized that it was known as the Magna Graecia. Each of the polities struck their own coinage.
Taras (or Tarentum) was among the most prominent city-states.
By the second century BC some of these Greek coinages evolved under Roman rule, and can be classified as the first Roman provincial currencies.
Culture
The Greek colonists of Magna Graecia elaborated a civilization of the highest level, which had peculiar characteristics, due to the distance from the motherland and the influence of the indigenous peoples of southern Italy. From the motherland Greece, art, literature and philosophy decisively influenced the life of the colonies. In Magna Graecia much impetus was given to culture, especially in some cities, such as Taras (now Taranto). Pythagoras moved to Crotone where he founded his school in 530 BC. Among others, Aeschylus, Herodotus, Xenophanes and Plato visited Magna Graecia.
Among the illustrious characters born in Magna Graecia are the philosophers Parmenides of Elea, Zeno of Elea, Gorgias of Lentini and Empedocles of Agrigento; the Pythagoreans Philolaus of Crotone, Archytas of Taranto, Lysis of Taranto, Echecrates and Timaeus of Locri; the mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse; the poets Theocritus of Syracuse, Stesichorus, Ibycus of Reggio Calabria, Nossis of Locri, Alexis of Thuri and Leonidas of Taranto; the doctors Alcmeon of Crotone and Democedes of Crotone; the sculptor from Reggio Clearchus; the painter Zeuxis, the musicologist Aristoxenus of Taranto and the legislator Zaleucus of Locri.
Art and architecture
Magna Graecia, in some fields such as architecture and urban planning, sometimes surpassed the mother country and the other Greek colonies. In Magna Graecia, as well as in the other Greek colonies, the Doric style enriched with showy decorations was adopted as the dominant architectural style. In Magna Graecia, in particular, a Doric style influenced by the Ionic one was also used, especially in Sicily in the Achaean colonies. In Magna Graecia, limestone was used as a building material due to the difficulty in finding other materials. The Doric style in Magna Graecia reached its apogee, surpassing that of the motherland and the other Greek colonies.
Regarding urban planning, the cities of Magna Graecia, as well as many cities of Greek colonies in other regions, were more orderly and rational in the distribution of spaces than those of the mother country, making the urban fabric more practical. The first examples of urbanistically more rational Greek cities belonged to Magna Graecia, in this case Taranto, Metapontum and Megara Hyblaea. Characteristic of this new urban concept, which later spread also in the motherland to Rhodes and Miletus, was a checkerboard road network.
In Magna Graecia painting and sculpture also reached a notable level of quality. In Magna Graecia there were examples of excellence in sculpture, coroplastics and bronzes. As for vase painting, many famous Athenian potters moved to Magna Graecia creating works influenced by the culture of the place, making their paintings peculiar and different from those of the motherland, giving rise to the South Italian ancient Greek pottery. Also noteworthy are the mosaics, the goldsmith's art and wall painting.
Noteworthy sculptures from Magna Graecia are the Apollo of Gaza, the Apollo of Piombino, the Dancing Satyr of Mazara del Vallo, the Head of a Philosopher and the Riace bronzes, while notable vases from Magna Graecia are the Darius Vase and the Nestor's Cup. Noteworthy temples of Magna Graecia are the Temple of Concordia, Agrigento, the Temple of Hera Lacinia, the Temple of Heracles, Agrigento, The Temple of Juno in Agrigento, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Agrigento, the Temple of Apollo (Syracuse), the Temple of Athena (Syracuse), the Temple of Athena (Paestum), the Temple C (Selinus), the Temple E (Selinus), the Temple F (Selinus), the Temple of Juno Lacinia (Crotone), the Second Temple of Hera (Paestum), the Heraion at Foce del Sele, the Temple of Poseidon (Taranto), the Tavole Palatine and the Temple of Victory (Himera).
Theater
The Sicilian Greek colonists in Magna Graecia, but also from Campania and Apulia, also brought theatrical art from their motherland. The Greek Theatre of Syracuse, the , the , the , the , the , the and the most famous Greek Theater of Taormina, amply demonstrate this.
Only fragments of original dramaturgical works are left, but the tragedies of the three great giants Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides and the comedies of Aristophanes are known.
Some famous playwrights in the Greek language came directly from Magna Graecia. Others, such as Aeschylus and Epicharmus, worked for a long time in Sicily. Epicharmus can be considered Syracusan in all respects, having worked all his life with the tyrants of Syracuse. His comedy preceded that of the more famous Aristophanes by staging the gods for the first time in comedy. While Aeschylus, after a long stay in the Sicilian colonies, died in Sicily in the colony of Gela in 456 BC. Epicarmus and Phormis, both of 6th century BC, are the basis, for Aristotle, of the invention of the Greek comedy, as he says in his book on Poetics:
Other native dramatic authors of Magna Graecia, in addition to the Syracusan Phormis mentioned, are Achaeus of Syracuse, Apollodorus of Gela, Philemon of Syracuse and his son Philemon the younger. From Calabria, precisely from the colony of Thurii, came the playwright Alexis. While Rhinthon, although Sicilian from Syracuse, worked almost exclusively for the colony of Taranto.
Sport
The colonies sent athletes of all disciplines to the Ancient Olympic Games which were periodically held at Olympia and Delphi in Greece.
The colonists of Magna Graecia were very fond of the Hellenic games where they could prove to the Greeks that they belonged to the same place of origin, their physical strength and skills in the games also played by their ancestors dozens of generations earlier. And for this reason the greatest sovereigns demanded that teams be trained to be sent to Greece.
Sport was therefore a channel of communication with the Hellenic peninsula, a means by which the colonies of Magna Graecia showed themselves to the rest of the Hellenic world. The settlers of Magna Graecia had great successes in sporting competitions in their homeland. Crotone's athletes won 18 titles in 25 Olympics.
Essential timeline
8th century BC: the first historical colony of Magna Graecia was that of Pithekoussai (current island of Ischia) founded in the 8th century BC by settlers from Chalcis and Eretria in Euboea. Probably, the island settlement of Pithekoussai was only a commercial establishment where the Greeks dealt with other peoples, especially with the Phoenician merchants, even if the issue is controversial.
720 BC: the first Greek colony in mainland Italy, Kyme, is founded.
7th-6th century BC: maximum splendor of Sibari.
6th century BC: maximum splendor of Crotone.
6th-3rd century BC: minting of coins by the cities of Magna Graecia.
6th-5th century BC: maximum splendor of Magna Graecia due to the Pythagorean reforms and institutions.
510 BC: Sibari was defeated by Crotone whose troops were commanded by the famous athlete Milo of Croton. The city of Sibari was destroyed and its population was condemned to exile.
5th century BC: maximum splendor of Syracuse.
480 BC: Gelon, tyrant of Syracuse, defeated the troops of Carthage at Himera, in the north of Sicily.
474 BC: The fleet led by Hiero I, tyrant of Syracuse, assisted Kyme threatened by the Etruscans. This victory marked the end of the Etruscan extension in Campania.
459-454 BC: after an internal civil war in Crotone, the cities of Magna Graecia once linked to it, dissolve the bond of subjection.
444-443 BC: foundation of Thourioi. An Athenian expedition, officially Panhellenic because it was made up of Greeks from the islands of the Aegean Sea, founded the city of Thourioi. In reality, the cities of the Aegean Sea were part of the Delian League, a military league under the rule of Athens. The city of Thourioi hosted important people such as Herodotus, Protagoras, Hippodamus of Miletus and Lysias.
415-413 BC: The Sicilian Expedition occurred. It was an Athenian military expedition to Sicily, which took place from 415 to 413 BC, during the Peloponnesian War, between Athens on one side and Sparta, Syracuse and Corinth on the other. The expedition ended in a devastating defeat for the Athenian forces, severely impacting Athens. After the first Athenian victories, which put the Syracusan army in serious difficulty, the tide of the war was turned upside-down due to the Spartan reinforcements under the command of Gylippus. The defeat of the Athenian army led to the imprisonment of its soldiers in the Syracusan latomies, where they were forced to live in hardship and suffering until their death; few were the survivors who managed to return to their homeland. The failure of the expedition marked the beginning of the military and political decline of Athens, followed by the aristocratic coup d'état of 411 BC; it also marked Athens' definitive defeat in the Peloponnesian War (404 BC). Thucydides, an Athenian historian, dedicates two books of his work History of the Peloponnesian War to the Athenian expedition, to underline the magnitude and exceptionality of the event. Thus he began "a new work, a work on Sicily" which became the background of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC). The Parallel Lives of Plutarch (in particular the Life of Nicias) and the Bibliotheca historica of Diodorus Siculus are other important sources on the expedition to Sicily.
400 BC: the cities of Magna Graecia overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea begin at the hands of the Italic peoples.
4th century BC: the cultural decline of the cities of Magna Graecia begins.
387 BC: Reggio is destroyed by Syracuse.
303 BC: peace between Taranto and Lucanians, who had attempted to conquer the city.
285 BC: Roman garrisons settle in Thourioi.
282-272 BC: Taranto was conquered by the Romans despite the intervention of Pyrrhus (Pyrrhic War in Italy).
264-241 BC: First Punic War, Rome takes control of Sicily, with the exception of Syracuse, which becomes Rome's ally.
215-205 BC: during the Second Punic War Syracuse and then Taranto sided with Carthage. The two cities were conquered by the Romans in 211 after a three-year siege. These events put an end to the independence of all the cities of Magna Graecia, which were annexed to the Roman Republic in 205 BC.
Middle Ages
During the Early Middle Ages, following the disastrous Gothic War, new waves of Byzantine Christian Greeks fleeing the Slavic invasion of Peloponnese settled in Calabria, further strengthened the Hellenic element in the region. The iconoclast emperor Leo III appropriated lands that had been granted to the Papacy in southern Italy and the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire continued to govern the area in the form of the Catapanate of Italy (965 -1071) through the Middle Ages, well after northern Italy fell to the Lombards.
At the time of the Normans' late medieval conquest of southern Italy and Sicily (in the late 12th century), the Salento peninsula (the "heel" of Italy), up to one-third of Sicily (concentrated in the Val Demone), and much of Calabria and Lucania were still largely Greek-speaking. Some regions of southern Italy experienced demographic shifts as Greeks began to migrate northwards in significant numbers from regions further south; one such region was Cilento, which came to have a Greek-speaking majority. At this time the language had evolved into medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, and its speakers were known as Byzantine Greeks. The resultant fusion of local Byzantine Greek culture with Norman and Arab culture (from the Arab occupation of Sicily) gave rise to Norman-Arab-Byzantine culture on Sicily.
A remnant of this influence can be found in the survival of the Greek language in some villages of the above mentioned Salento peninsula (the "heel" of Italy). This living dialect of Greek, known locally as Griko, is found in the Italian regions of Calabria and Apulia. Griko is considered by linguists to be a descendant of Byzantine Greek, which had been the majority language of Salento through the Middle Ages, combining also some ancient Doric and local romance elements. There is a rich oral tradition and Griko folklore, limited now but once numerous, to around 30,000 people, most of them having abandoned their language in favour of Italian. Some scholars, such as Gerhard Rohlfs, argue that the origins of Griko may ultimately be traced to the colonies of Magna Graecia.
Modern and contemporary Italy
Greek nobles started taking refuge in Italy following the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. Greeks immigrated once again to the region in the 16th and 17th centuries in reaction to the conquest of the Peloponnese by the Ottoman Empire. Especially after the end of the Siege of Coron (1534), large numbers of Greeks took refuge in the areas of Calabria, Salento and Sicily. Greeks from Coroni, the so-called Coronians, were nobles, who brought with them substantial movable property.
Other Greeks who moved to Italy came from the Mani Peninsula of the Peloponnese. The Maniots (their name originating from the Greek word mania) were known for their proud military traditions and for their bloody vendettas, many of which still continue today. Another group of Maniot Greeks moved to Corsica in the 17th century under the protection of the Republic of Genoa.
Although many of the Greek inhabitants of Magna Graecia were entirely Latinized during the Middle Ages, pockets of Greek culture and language remained and have survived to the present day. One example is the Griko people in Calabria (Bovesia) and Salento (Grecìa Salentina), some of whom still maintain their Greek language (Griko language) and customs. The Griko language is the last living trace of the Greek elements that once formed Magna Graecia. Their working practices have been passed down through generations through storytelling and allowing the observation of work. The Italian parliament recognizes the Griko people as an ethnolinguistic minority under the official name of Minoranze linguistiche Grike dell'Etnia Griko-Calabrese e Salentina.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites related to Magna Graecia
Valle dei Templi
The Valle dei Templi, or Valley of the Temples, is an archaeological site in Agrigento (ancient Greek Akragas), Sicily. It is one of the most outstanding examples of ancient Greek art and architecture of Magna Graecia. The term "valley" is a misnomer, the site being located on a ridge outside the town of Agrigento.
Since 1997, the entire area has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The archaeological and landscape park of the Valle dei Templi, with its 1,300 hectares, is the largest archaeological park in Europe and the Mediterranean basin.
The Valley includes remains of seven temples, all in Doric style. The ascription of the names, apart from that of the Olympeion, are a mere tradition established in Renaissance times. The temples are:
Temple of Concordia, whose name comes from a Latin inscription found nearby, and which was built in the 5th century BC. Turned into a church in the 6th century AD, it is now one of the best preserved in the Valley.
Temple of Juno, also built in the 5th century BC. It was burnt in 406 BC by the Carthaginians.
Temple of Heracles, who was one of the most venerated deities in the ancient Akragas. It is the most ancient in the Valley: destroyed by an earthquake, it consists today of only eight columns.
Temple of Olympian Zeus, built in 480 BC to celebrate the city-state's victory over Carthage. It is characterized by the use of large scale atlases.
Temple of Castor and Pollux. Despite its remains including only four columns, it is now the symbol of modern Agrigento.
Temple of Hephaestus (Vulcan), also dating from the 5th century BC. It is thought to have been one of the most imposing constructions in the valley; it is now however one of the most eroded.
Temple of Asclepius, located far from the ancient town's walls; it was the goal of pilgrims seeking cures for illness.
The Valley is also home to the so-called Tomb of Theron, a large tuff monument of pyramidal shape; scholars suppose it was built to commemorate the Romans killed in the Second Punic War.
Poseidonia and Elea
Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park (Italian Parco Nazionale del Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni) is an Italian national park in the Province of Salerno, in Campania in southern Italy. It includes much of the Cilento, the Vallo di Diano and the Monti Alburni. It was founded in 1991, and was formerly known as the Parco Nazionale del Cilento e Vallo di Diano. In 1998 it became a World Heritage Site of UNESCO, along with the ancient Greek towns of Poseidonia, Elea and the Padula Charterhouse.
Much of the most celebrated features of the Poseidonia site today are the three large temples in the Archaic version of the Greek Doric order, dating from about 550 to 450 BC. All are typical of the period, with massive colonnades having a very pronounced entasis (widening as they go down), and very wide capitals resembling upturned mushrooms. Above the columns, only the second Temple of Hera retains most of its entablature, the other two having only the architrave in place. These were dedicated to Hera and Athena (Juno and Minerva to the Romans), although previously they often have been identified otherwise, following eighteenth-century arguments. The two temples of Hera are right next to each other, while the Temple of Athena is on the other side of the town center. There were other temples, both Greek and Roman, which are far less well preserved.
Remains of Elea walls, with traces of one gate and several towers, of a total length of over three miles, still exist, and belong to three different periods, in all of which the crystalline limestone of the locality is used. Bricks were also employed in later times; their form is peculiar to this place, each having two rectangular channels on one side, and being about 1.5 inches square, with a thickness of nearly 4 inches They all bear Greek brick-stamps. There are some remains of cisterns on the site, and, various other traces of buildings.
Syracuse
Syracuse was founded in 733 BC by Greek settlers from Corinth and Tenea, led by the oecist (colonizer) Archias. There are many attested variants of the name of the city including Syrakousai, Syrakosai and Syrakō. In the modern day, the city is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site along with the Necropolis of Pantalica.
The buildings of Syracuse from the Greek period are:
The city walls
The Temple of Apollo, at Piazza Emanuele Pancali, adapted to a church in Byzantine times and to a mosque under Arab rule.
The Fountain of Arethusa, on Ortygia island. According to a legend, the nymph Arethusa, hunted by Alpheus, was turned into a spring by Artemis and appeared here.
The Greek Theatre of Syracuse, whose cavea is one of the largest ever built by the ancient Greeks: it has 67 rows, divided into nine sections with eight aisles. Only traces of the scene and the orchestra remain. The edifice (still used today) was modified by the Romans, who adapted it to their different style of spectacles, including also circus games. Near the theatre are the latomìe, stone quarries, also used as prisons in ancient times. The most famous latomìa is the Orecchio di Dionisio ("Ear of Dionysius").
The Tomb of Archimede, in the Grotticelli Necropolis. Decorated with two Doric columns.
The Temple of Olympian Zeus, about outside the city, built around the 6th century BC.
Archaeological sites related to Magna Graecia
Apulia
Rudiae
Siponto
Basilicata
Heraclea Lucania
Metapontum
Tavole Palatine
Calabria
Caulonia
Krimisa
Laüs
Skylletion
Sybaris
Terina
Thurii
Timpone della Motta
Campania
Cumae
Elea
Heraion at Foce del Sele
Poseidonia
Sicily
Abacaenum
Adranon
Aetna
Akrai
Akrillai
Apollonia
Casmenae
Eryx
Halaesa
Helorus
Heraclea Minoa
Herbessos
Himera
Hybla Gereatis
Maktorion
Megara Hyblaea
Monte Adranone
Morgantina
Motya
Naxos
Segesta
Selinunte
Tindari
Valle dei Templi
See also
Notes
References
Sources
Polyxeni Adam-Veleni and Dimitra Tsangari (editors), Greek colonisation: New data, current approaches; Proceedings of the scientific meeting held in Thessaloniki (6 February 2015), Athens, Alpha Bank, 2015.
Michael J. Bennett, Aaron J. Paul, Mario Iozzo, & Bruce M. White, Magna Graecia: Greek Art From South Italy and Sicily, Cleveland, OH, Cleveland Museum of Art, 2002.
John Boardman, N. G. L. Hammond (editors), The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. III, part 3, The Expansion of the Greek World, Eighth to Sixth Centuries B.C., Cambridge University Press, 1982.
Giovanni Casadio & Patricia A. Johnston, Mystic Cults In Magna Graecia, Austin, University of Texas Press, 2009.
Lucia Cerchiai, Lorenna Jannelli, & Fausto Longo (editors), The Greek cities of Magna Graecia and Sicily, Photography by Mark E. Smith, Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, 2004.
Giovanna Ceserani, Italy's Lost Greece: Magna Graecia and the Making of Modern Archaeology, New York, Oxford University Press, 2012.
T. J. Dunbabin, The Western Greeks, 1948.
M. Gualtieri, Fourth Century B.C. Magna Graecia: A Case Study, Jonsered, Sweden, P. Åströms, 1993.
Mogens Herman Hansen & Thomas Heine Nielsen, An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis, Oxford University Press, 2004.
R. Ross Holloway, Art and Coinage In Magna Graecia, Bellinzona, Edizioni arte e moneta, 1978.
Margaret Ellen Mayo, The Art of South Italy: Vases From Magna Graecia, Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1982.
Giovanni Pugliese Carratelli, The Greek World: Art and Civilization In Magna Graecia and Sicily, New York: Rizzoli, 1996.
———— (editor), The Western Greeks: Catalog of an exhibition held in the Palazzo Grassi, Venice, March–Dec., 1996, Milan, Bompiani, 1976.
William Smith, "Magna Graecia." In Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, 1854.
A. G. Woodhead, The Greeks in the West, 1962.
Günther Zuntz, Persephone: Three Essays On Religion and Thought In Magna Graecia, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1971.
External links
Map. Ancient Coins.
David Willey. Italy rediscovers Greek heritage. BBC News. 21 June 2005, 17:19 GMT 18:19 UK.
Gaze On The Sea. Salentine Peninsula, Greece and Greater Greece. (in Italian, Greek and English)
Oriamu pisulina. Traditional Griko song performed by Ghetonia.
Kalinifta. Traditional Griko song performed by amateur local group.
Second Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Hellenic Heritage of Southern Italy. Archaeological Institute of America (AIA). June 11, 2015. (Dates: Monday, May 30, 2016 to Thursday, June 2, 2016.)
Sergio Tofanelli et al. The Greeks in the West: genetic signatures of the Hellenic colonisation in southern Italy and Sicily. European Journal of Human Genetics, (15 July 2015).